Family Relations You Didn’t Know About Between Hong Kong Stars

The Hong Kong entertainment circle may be more than simply “six degrees of separation”, as many artistes have actual family ties. Below are some lesser known family relations in the industry, which add to exciting trivia knowledge of stars spanning three generations in some cases:

The former Commercial Radio DJ Jane (李澄) is the daughter of former host-singer Sandy Lamb (林珊珊), who now heads an entertainment company for artistes such as The Grasshopper (草蜢). Brothers, Jan Lam (林海峰) and Jerry Lamb (林曉峰), are Jane’s maternal uncles while Ti Lung (狄龍) is Jane’s granduncle. Jane’s father is renowned former national swimmer Johnny Li (李啟淦) who once held the national record for freestyle swimming. Ti Lung’s son, Shaun Tam (譚俊彦), currently films for TVB.

Who knew that the boyishly good-looking singer-actor Daniel Chan (陳曉東), is related to the A-list host and veteran entertainer Natalis Chan (陳百祥)? The pair share a relationship as uncle and nephew.

Danny Summer (67) and Bernice Liu (39)

Known as the “Father of Hong Kong Rock n Roll”, Danny Summer (夏韶聲) is the uncle of ex-TVB artiste Bernice Liu (廖碧兒). The winner of Miss Chinese International in 2001, Bernice has filmed many dramas at TVB and has had a romantic history with Hawick Lau (劉愷威) and Moses Chan (陳豪), and left TVB in 2011. Besides producing music, Danny also has an interest in otherworldly topics such as UFOs and extraterrestrial creatures, and has appeared on many supernatural programs.

Eason Chan (44) and Wong Cho Lam (39)

Seemingly unrelated, Wong Cho Lam (王祖藍) made the accidental discovery during visits to relatives that singer Eason Chan (陳奕迅) is his distant cousin. The two enjoy success in their respective fields, with Eason being a prolific singer and nominated actor, and Cho Lam successfully making the switch from artiste to artiste manager in recent years.

Joe Ma (51) and Mimi Chu (65)

Mimi Chu’s (朱咪咪) husband is apparently the paternal cousin of Joe Ma (馬德鐘), making the two in-laws. The duo shared a duet “Strangers When We Meet” at Mimi’s 2015 concert at the Hong Kong Coliseum and announced their “unusual relationship”.

Recently coming out of the closet to marry his boyfriend, Vinci Wong (王賢誌) is a cousin of Kevin Cheung (鄭嘉穎), while former TVB actress Anne Heung (向海嵐) is Vinci’s aunt (daughter of maternal grandfather’s sister).

Edmond Leung (48), Michelle Yim (64) and the late Wan Chi Keung

Soccer legend Wan Chi Keung (尹志強) dated Michelle Yim (米雪) for 24 years. Though the two did not officially tie the knot as man and wife, they shared a loving relationship for many years. Singer Edmong Leung (梁漢文), who is Wan’s nephew, also shares his uncle’s passion for the sport and leads celebrity soccer matches.

DJ Donald (45), Janny, Steven Cheung (35)

Cantopop duo I Love You Boyz member DJ Donald (唐劍康) has been married to Janny (張詠恩), a former member of girl group Krusty, for nine years. When Janny became comatose from a stroke, Donald had prayed for her recovery by willingly exchanging 20 years of his life. Janny is also the elder sister of former Boy’z member Steven Cheung (張致恆), who has starred in TVB dramas such as Come Home Love: Dinner at 8 <爱·回家之八时入席>.

One an award-winning director and scriptwriter and the other two established veteran actors are all in the same family. John Chiang (姜大衛) and Paul Chun (秦沛) are brothers, and later gained a half-brother, Derek Yee (爾冬陞), when their mom remarried. TVB actor Raymond Cho (曹永廉) who recently hosted the travel variety show Roaming Siblings <兄弟姐妹去旅行> married John’s eldest daughter and is his son-in-law.

Paul Chun (74), Benji Chiang (39), and Lesley Chiang (33)

Paul Chun’s (秦沛) children, BenjiChiang (姜文杰) and Lesley Chiang (姜麗文) previously entered the industry as independent music producers, later advancing their careers individually. While the duo continue to make music, they have also been dabbling in acting, with Benji’s performance in the 2017 web drama series OTCB <反黑> being well-received while younger sister Lesley had worked at TVB.

Benz Hui (71) and Lu Xun

Ex-TVB artiste Benz Hui (許紹雄) had many memorable roles such as “Foon Hei Gor” Line Walker <使徒行者> . Benz is the nephew of influential modern Chinese author Lu Xun (魯迅).

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How do you feel about this article?Family Relations You Didn’t Know About Between Hong Kong Stars

@mike Yea, Derek is the half-brother and the youngest of all the sons (their mother Hong Mei had 4 sons and 1 daughter with her first husband, actor Yim Fa – Paul is the 3rd son and John is the 4th son; after Yim Fa died, Hong Mei re-married director Yee Kwong and they had 1 son, Derek).

Love the Chiang family – they’re one of my favorite showbiz families…talent definitely runs deep in that family and I’m happy to see how successful each of them have been over the years, but what I love most is how close the entire extended family is, yet they refuse to use each other’s connections for gain and instead, insist on making it on their own.

Personally, the family connection I was the most surprised about was between Chilam Cheung and notorious category III film actor, Charlie Cho. To be honest, Charlie is one of the few actors who gives me the creeps.

I also didn’t know about Joe Ma and Mimi Chu.

Most of these relations seem to be kept under wraps at the start of their careers because artistes don’t want to come across as being promoted because of these connections. But it definitely helps for family relatives to lead the ropes and make entry into the industry a lot easier.

I think the article should’ve been renamed “Family Relations You May Not Have Known About” because for me, I already knew about most of them. Here are a few more that weren’t mentioned in the article: Flora Chan and Gabriel Harrison (cousins), Teddy Robin and Kelvin Kwan (uncle/nephew), Kenneth Tsang, Jimmy Wang, and Linda Wong (Linda is Jimmy’s daughter with former actress Jeannette Lin, who was also Kenneth Tsang’s sister. Also, former actor/singer Chris Chan is Linda’s half-brother from her mother’s marriage to former Shaw Bros director Kim Chun).

By the way, I think these article translations need to be better edited, as there are a lot of mistakes in them….but could just be me being nit-picky…

I don’t understand why Shuan Tam and Ti Lung has a different last name or even John Chiang and Paul Chun since they’re real brothers and Derek last name are different because he’s the half brother that’s understanding.

@cutie777 I remember somewhere that Ti Lung is just a name he probably gave himself when in showbiz fake stage name? Tam is probably his REAL BIRTH LAST NAME. Jackie Chan’s Chinese name is SING LUNG but his real last name is probably Chan? lol…haha…I had no idea of MOST of the people in the article. Esp Joe Ma & Edmond Leung? Wow…

@cutie777 Many artists in the entertainment industry adopt stage names — it’s a common practice and that’s the name they use throughout their careers. Many of the older artists especially liked to adopt stage names and it was especially prevalent during the Shaw Brothers era (1960s to 1970s and into early 80s), which is when most of these veterans (Ti Lung, Paul Chun, John Chiang, etc.) were most active.

Ti Lung’s real name is Tam Fu Wing (Ti Lung is obviously his stage name), which is why his son has the surname Tam (Shaun’s name is his real name).

Same thing with Paul Chun — that’s his stage name…his real name is Chiang Chang Nin. Obviously his son and daughter use their real names, hence Benji and Lesley Chiang. John Chiang’s Chinese name is a stage name as well (even though he kept his Chiang surname)…his real name is Chiang Wai Nin.

Oh, another family relation that this article didn’t mention — Shek Sau (stage name, lol) and his son Sam Chan….though I think most people know about them…

In earlier articles that I read few years back, it wrote that David Chiang and John Chiang are real brothers and Paul Chun is their half brother. From various pictures, Paul looks different from John and David.

@mysterym2m Whatever article you read is wrong. First, John Chiang and David Chiang are the same person. 姜大衛‘s English name is John but because his Chinese name sounds like David, many people mistook that for his English name. John has said in interviews that he went along with it in the past because too many people would get it wrong and he was tired of correcting them, but nowadays, if anyone calls him David instead of John, he will refuse to answer.

Paul and John definitely were born to the same parents and so are real brothers…this has been a known fact for decades. Derek is the half-brother from their mother Hong Mei’s remarriage to Yee Kwong. Btw, when she remarried, Paul and John were already in their teens, so for Derek, the 2 of them were not just his half-brothers, they also helped take care of him so they were like a father figure to him (especially Paul, since he’s older).